Russian stocks close flat on profit taking, good news

MOSCOW, Feb 22 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed almost flat on Wednesday as profit taking by some investors was balanced by the remaining momentum of President Vladimir Putin’s address to the Federal Assembly and favorable national and corporate news, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index remained flat at 2,212.40 and the RTS increased 0.05% to 929.43.

“The February 2022 trading on the Russian stock floors was spent in consolidation after Tuesday’s growth,” Freedom Finance Global analyst Vladimir Chernov said.

Otkritie Research leading analyst for global research Andrei Kochetkov said that investors took profit in some shares, while some other securities continued rising in reaction to the positive signals from Putin’s address to the Federal Assembly.

“Investors took their profits before the long weekend. The U.S. stock floors’ growth at the start of their trading session, some good corporate news, and the Russian government’s statement about a rise of trade turnover with China to U.S. $200 billion soon provided a moderate positive momentum on the national stock market,” Freedom Finance Global analyst Natalya Milchakova said.

Kochetkov also said that the shares of real estate developer LSR Group continued rising by 0.13% to 475 rubles in reaction to Putin’s comment about housing certificates for young scientists and cheap rental housing for employees of the defense industry.

The government is trying to create a positive environment for specialists who vital for the economy, and uses housing preferences to achieve that. It is obvious that real estate developers benefit from that, especially taking into account a plunge in demand for new housing in 2022, he said.

Chernov also said that the positive news for the real estate developers triggered purchases in the shares of steelmaker Severstal, which grew by 1.52% to 1,028.20 rubles because metals companies always win from expansions in real estate construction.

Putin’s statement about the necessity to continue expansion of logistics corridors to the Asian countries as well as in the country resulted in the growth of the receipts of Globaltrans by 1.63% to 339 rubles, Chernov added.

Below are the MOEX Russia Index’ five most active stocks on Wednesday:

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.12	163.95	6.339
Polyus	-1.26	8850.50	1.802
Gazprom	+0.45	155.67	1.552
Irkut	+4.47	63.60	1.203
Severstal	+1.52	1028.20	1.151

(74.8596 rubles – U.S. $1)

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